Courageous Mexican Mayor Finally Falls

Maria Santos Gorrostieta, female mayor of the town of Tiquicheo in Mexico, was found dead by a roadside in San Juan Tararameo in Cuitzeo Township eight days after she had been dragged from the car she was in while driving her little daughter to school. She had been stabbed, tortured and burned.

Considered as a heroine of the 21st century, 36 year old Maria Santos was Mayor of Tiquicheo, a rural district in Michoacan, West of Mexico City in 2008, and had been battling drug lords and crime since. She refused to back down even after two attempts on her life, the first of which claimed the life of her first husband, Jose Sanchez, when the car they were travelling in came under fire.

She bounced back in the face of the overwhelming tragedy, even more determined to continue the struggle. The next attempt on her life was just three months later, when a masked group carrying assault rifles ambushed her on the road between Michoacan and Guerreo state. The van she was traveling in was peppered by 30 bullets. Three hit her. This time her wounds were more severe, leaving multiple scars and forcing her to wear a colostomy bag. She was left in constant pain. But with unimaginable courage – and despite being a marked woman – she remained defiant to the very end.

Now her death has sparked a  lot of soul searching among Mexicans, in  a country torn apart by murderous drug lords in clashes between rival drug gangs, who use murder, blackmail, bribery and torture as their weapons against the people.

Who else will emerge from the ashes of this tragedy and face the drug cartels? Another Maria is obviously needed if Mexico's drug problem is to be solved.

But who else has the courage of a woman. . . who else is a Maria, in a Mexico much in need of her courage?

Who will take her place?